MARCH 5, 2002

CORNELL COLLEGE
Department of Politics

368. Environmental Politics
Special "Oilmen in Charge" Edition

May 2002

Dr. Craig W. Allin, Instructor
Corey Williams Green, Consulting Librarian

Are Policies for a Sustainable World Possible? A study of earth resources released September 15, 2000, by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank and the World Resources Institute (WRI) reveals: Half of the world's wetlands were lost last century. Logging and conversion have shrunk the world's forests by as much as half. Some 9 percent of the world's tree species are at risk of extinction; tropical deforestation may exceed 130,000 square kilometers per year. Fishing fleets are 40 percent larger than the ocean can sustain. Nearly 70 percent of the world's major marine fish stocks are overfished or are being fished at their biological limit. Soil degradation has affected two-thirds of the world's agricultural lands in the last 50 years. Some 30 percent of the world's original forests have been converted to agriculture. Since 1980, the global economy has tripled in size and population has grown by 30 percent to 6 billion people. Dams, diversions or canals fragment almost 60 percent of the world's largest rivers. Twenty percent of the world's freshwater fish are extinct, threatened or endangered. What Are We Doing to Create Those Policies? Despite a growing scientific consensus that the Earth as we know it is peril, the second Bush Administration appears determined to ignore the approaching environmental catastrophe while undoing the modest environmental gains of recent decades. The Kyoto Protocol, the first serious global effort to control greenhouse gas emmissions, has been abandoned. The Roadless Area initiative, which would have slowed the building of new roads in national forests, has been abandoned. Superfund payments by the companies that pollute have been abolished leaving the taxpayers to pick up the bill. The EPA's chief for regulatory enforcement, Eric V. Schaeffer, an appointee of the first Bush Administration, quit in protest, saying that he was "fighting a White House that seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce." Eighteen of the energy industry's top 25 financial contributors to the Republican Party advised Vice President Dick Cheney's national energy task force in 2001. This course will explore the intersection of science and politics in the struggle to formulate laws and policies for biosphere management.

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

The following Supplements to this Course Description can be found on the Web:
Course Syllabus	Calendar & Assignments	Grades	Rules & Regulations
Politics Department	Research Links	Web References	Good Advice

Web Syllabus: With its interactive links, hypertext seems the ideal medium for course syllabi. With a click, you can be at a site to which a paper syllabus could only refer. You can use it all on line and print whatever you want. Portions of this syllabus make may use of the portable document format (PDF). PDF files generally print better than HTML files. They offer exact visual replicas of printed pages comparable to printout from a color copier. They alow you to print selected pages, and they don't depend on your having any particular world processor. PDF is the dominant file type used for delivering facsimiles of paper documents, like court opinions and legislative reports, over the Internet. To read PDF files on your personal computer you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download without charge from the publisher. This software is already loaded on most college-owned computers. A printer-friendly PDF version of this syllabus is available by clicking on the PDF icon above, but it may not reflect last minute changes. Compare the date at the top of the page.

Digital Classroom: We have the good fortune to be meeting in South 302, a classroom equipped for digital projection from computer and VCR. I encourage you to take advantage of the available technology in your oral presentations.

Feedback: Whether or not you are asked to complete a standardized course evaluation, I am interested in your comments and suggestions for improving the course, the readings, the assignments and this course description. Feel free to send comments as you think of them. E-mail: callin@cornellcollege.edu.

Instructor: Craig W. Allin, Room 307, South Hall. Telephone: Office, (895-) 4278; Home, 895-8103. Phone messages may be left with faculty secretary Cheryl Dake (895-) 4283 or in her voice mail box or on the answering machine at my home. I do not check my office voice mail. If I do not answer the phone, I recommend contacting me by e-mail. For quickest response e-mail your questions and comments to my office (callin@cornellcollege.edu ) and my home ( allin.craig@worldnet.att.net ).

Office Hours: If I'm not in class with you, you can probably find me in my office. Feel free to make an appointment or just show up. To help you find me,the most current version of my schedule is available for your electronic inspection over the campus network if you are using Microsoft Outlook [not Outlook Express].

1. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Other User's Folder.
2. In the Open Other User's Folder box, click Name and select Craig Allin from the list.
3. In the Folder box, select Calendar from the pull-down menu.

1. You must notify the course instructor in by e-mail not later than the third day of the course that you intend for this to be your Senior Assessment Course.
2. During the course you must prepare a Senior Assessment Portfolio containing:
1. copies of all your written work for the course;
2. copies of all the written feedback provided by your instructor; and
3. your completed Senior Assessment Document, copies of which are available from Cheryl Dake, the faculty secretary in South Hall.
3. Because this is the final term of the year, you must submit the Senior Assessment Portfolio to me (not to Cheryl Dake) by the final Tuesday of the class and schedule your Senior Assessment Interview for the next morning.
4. You must complete the Senior Assessment Interview on the final Wednesday of the class.

Core Texts: The following books are available for purchase at the Cornell College Bookstore. Each is assigned in its entirety. (The following list is in the M.L.A. style.)

	Rosenbaum, Walter A. Environmental Politics and Policy. Fifth Edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2002.
	Vig, Norman J., and Michael E. Kraft. Environmental Policy in the 1990s. Fourth Edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2000.

Supplementary Texts: The following books are also available for purchase in the bookstore. The class will be divided into panels, and each panel will be responsible for reporting on one book. Do not purchase any of these books until you have your panel assignment.

Anderson, Terry L., and Donald R. Leal. Free Market Environmentalism, Revised Edition. New York: Palgrave, 2000. The 1991 edition argued that private property was the solution, not the problem. Since publication, this idea has been embraced by conservatives and by some environmental groups. The thinking here is largely economic but not methodologically difficult. Are these guys really environmentalists or just fronting for big business and the property rights movement?

Margolis, Howard. Dealing with Risk: Why the Public and the Experts Disagree on Environmental Issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. University of Chicago public policy specialist answers the question his book title poses. The argument is methodologically sophisticated and recommended for students with strong preparation in natural sciences or psychology.

Internet Resources: The Home Page for the Politics Department contains a wealth of valuable information including programs and requirements of the Department of Politics; information about Politics Courses; and new, improved research links for politics, government, and law. There are also free Internet News Services that can be very helpful if you have your own computer connected either to the Cornell Network or to an Internet Service Provider. For this course I recommend the Environmental News Network at http://www.enn.com/ . You can subscribe for free delivery of environmental news daily by e-mail. ENN also maintains searchable archives.

1. Introductory Case Study -- The Politics of Planetary Health: video on the science and politics of global warming. This quick start should serve to get us in the mood for environmental politics and remind us that the stakes are rather high.
   
   
2. Environmental Politics -- Using Rosenbaum (2002) as our guide, we will explore the history and structure of environmental politics in the United States.



3. Excursions in Environmental Policy -- Craig will lead an exploration of the politics and policy of wilderness management on federal lands. Panels of students will present and evaluate the arguments made by authors of our supplementary texts.



4. Issues of Environmental Policy -- Following Vig & Kraft (2000), we will explore a variety of issues in environmental policy for the 1990s and beyond. These somewhat more sophisticated articles will provide an opportunity to refine our understanding of the policy process and some of the issues raised by it.



5. Cases on Point -- Students will share the results of their own individual research and analysis. Members of the class will evaluate their classmates' presentations.

Requirements

1. Students are expected to attend all classes and to complete all assignments prior to class time on the day for which they are assigned. You should read carefully and be prepared to discuss all the assignments intelligently. You should also be on the look out for relevant news. As we meet, the nation's environmental policy seems once again up for grabs. One portion of the course grade will reflect the instructor's evaluation of your attendance, participation, and effort.
2. Each student will participate in a panel report during the second week of the course. See "Group Leadership Assignment," for details. The performance of your group will count for a portion of the course grade.
3. There will be a comprehensive final examination covering all the course's assigned reading and the panel reports.
4. Each student will complete a major research project on an approved topic. See "Individual Project Assignment," for details. This project will count for 50% of the final grade.
   
   

Learning Objectives:

1. To sample the diversity of scholarship applicable to environmental policy.
2. To develop expertise in a specific area of environmental policy.
3. To work effectively as part of a group in pursuit of a group goal.
4. To communicate your expertise effectively to the larger group.
   

Assignment:

During the second week of the course, panels of students will share their knowledge the books listed as supplementary texts for this course and briefly described there. For the schedule of presentations consult Course Calendar & Assignments.

Preparation:

• On the first day of class students will be assigned to one of the panels.
• The resulting groups will have leadership responsibility for the corresponding class meetings.
• Each panel will need to meet regularly to plan and prepare its presentation. To assure that there are no schedule conflicts, most mornings prior to the presentations are reserved for group meetings.
• At 9:00 a.m. on the morning of your presentation, your group will meet briefly with me in my office. At that time, I will want to see the comprehensive outline of your group presentation and your handouts or PowerPoint slides.
• By 9:00 a.m. on the morning of your presentation, your group will submit two thoughtful assignments/questions, suitable for use in an essay-style examination. E-mail them to my office or bring them on a disk when you come. Each assignment/question should allow respondents to engage intellectually with the central messages or core concepts from your book. Of course, it is your obligation to present those central messages or core concepts effectively to the class. Indeed, I hope that being required as a group to formulate questions/assignments about your presentation will help you to think more clearly and carefully about what is important and how it should be presented.

Things to think about:

Presentations in general:

Grades will be assigned to the entire group. Grades are determined by content and elocution. Strong content depends on knowledge of the subject, clear presentation of main ideas, careful subordination of secondary ideas, explanations and examples, and close attention to logical transition, all supported by good visual aids. Effective elocution depends on your skill in referring to notes, managing the time available, enunciating clearly, speaking with appropriate pace and variety of emphasis, and maintaining effective eye contact with your audience.

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT ASSIGNMENT:
Policy Paper & Presentation

"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that."
--John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859)

Learning Objectives:

1. To enhance your knowledge of a specific area of environmental policy.
2. To improve your knowledge of research methods and materials including government documents and specialized indexes.
3. To improve your skills in persuasive writing including grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics, usage, and documentation using a recognized style sheet.
4. To improve your writing through your responses to constructive criticism
5. To improve your confidence and skill as a public speaker.
6. To enhance the class's knowledge of a specific area of environmental policy by means of your report.

Assignment: Your job is to write a policy paper of 3,500 to 5,000 words in length exclusive of abstract, illustrations, notes, bibliography, appendices, etc. Your paper must deal with a significant environmental policy question about which you have not previously written a college level paper and which is, or ought to be, on the agenda of American politics at the national, state, or local level. If in doubt, consult.

Public Policy & Policy Papers: A "policy" is regular practice or a clear course of action. (E.g., it is the policy of Cornell College to issue grades once a month.) A "public policy" is any policy adopted by a government. (E.g., it is the policy of the United States to prohibit hunting in national parks.) A "policy paper" is a concise document that recommends a public policy and argues for the adoption of that policy. Your policy paper--and the seminar report, which will be produced from the same materials--will be developed through five stages. The deadlines for each stage are listed on the Course Calendar and Assignments page.

Stage I -- Topic & Bibliography: You must submit an e-mail attachment describing your research topic and presenting a working bibliography for that topic. Your topic is satisfactory if it describes a reasonably discrete area or issue substantially related to the themes of this course. You bibliography is satisfactory if it contains sufficient scholarly (books and articles with comprehensive annotation) and primary (original records and documents) sources to assure the viability of research and writing on the chosen topic. You should begin work on this as the course commences. By Friday of the first week you should be prepared to share your work in progress with our Consulting Librarian, Corey Williams Green. You will need to schedule an appointment. Details will be provided during our research class on Tuesday morning. Before you submit your Topic & Bibliography document, take time to put the bibliography in proper form. Use one of the approved style sheets and indicate in your submission, which one you are using..

Stage II -- Policy Recommendation & Outline of Contentions: You must submit an e-mail attachment stating your policy recommendation and setting forth an outline of the contentions you intend to make for it. Please note that articulating a good policy recommendation will require you to have already completed much of the research on your chosen topic. The policy recommendation is the paper's thesis. The outline of contentions previews your paper's anticipated structure. Selecting a topic requires only that you identify an area appropriate for inquiry and susceptible to a policy recommendation. Stating a policy recommendation takes you an important step further: you must determine, with some considerable degree of specificity, what policy ought to be adopted with respect to your topic. For example, "scientific research in wilderness areas" is a topic. "Congress should amend the Wilderness Act to exempt recognized scientists from provisions restricting use of motorized vehicles and permanent facilities" is a policy recommendation. Your thesis must state a policy within the legal power of some officer, agency or institution of local, state, or national government in the United States. Topics of global concern are welcomed, but your thesis must be stated in terms of American policy. E.g., "Congress should ratify the Kyoto Accord and pass the legislation necessary to implement it."

This is the point at which trouble most often arises, so before you submit your policy recommendation and contentions, examine them carefully using the criteria set forth in Getting from Topic & Bibliography to Recommendation & Contentions. Before you organize your contentions into an outline, consult A Good Argument Is a Hierarchy of Contentions.

Convincing: They state a conclusion and back that conclusion with reasoned argument. The purpose is to convince the reader, and the better the argument, the higher the probability of success.

Well Researched: They are firmly rooted in careful research. You must have a command of the relevant facts. You must understand your own position and the positions of those with whom you disagree.

Concise: They are not always short, but they must be concise. That means no padding and no B.S. Papers such as these are meant for the eyes of very busy decision makers: the judge, the corporate executive, and the high government official. If you want to convince such a person, you must not waste her time.

Hierarchically Organized: They organize the arguments to be made into the strongest possible hierarchy of contentions. Refer again to A Good Argument Is a Hierarchy of Contentions.